


This Piece for You

by ambiguously



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ben Solo Lives, F/M, MayThe4th Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:13:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23957464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambiguously/pseuds/ambiguously
Summary: Ben has a habit of running off. Rey worries every time.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 12
Kudos: 86
Collections: May the 4th Be With You Star Wars Fanworks Exchange 2020





	This Piece for You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tendency](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tendency/gifts).



His eyes are still wild. Rey worries sometimes.

Finn doesn't trust him and isn't going to trust him. He wants to understand for Rey's sake. Poe doesn't want to understand at all but he'll make allowances for Finn's request that he try. Finn has pointed out that Ben's eyes are like a wild thing's, darting and afraid. "If he goes back to his old tricks...."

"He won't," she assures him. She can feel every thread of Ben's thoughts now. If he falls to darkness again, she'll be the first to know. And that's why she's worried, because Finn has pointed out her own eyes are just as wild at times.

"It's death," Maz tells her, packing up her own loaned ships and supplies. "You both managed a way to cheat the Force out of taking your lives, but you both passed to the other side for a time. That carries a price."

"Stay. Help me fix this."

"There's nothing to fix. You're alive. Ben's alive. You're both lucky you didn't accidentally make each other immortal." She gestures for Rey to lean closer. "Enjoy living. It's all any of us can do." For a moment, she sounds like Leia in one of her more reflective moods. Rey wonders if she will have a chance to grow old, for her hair to sheen into silver, and for her mind to ponder the deeper mysteries of the universe.

She returns to the ship, but Ben is gone again. He lives aboard the Millennium Falcon, pressed up against her at night in a snug bunk both of them pretend hasn't been slept in by any of his immediate family, even though she's somehow sure this was Luke's cabin during the times he was aboard. Ben should be here, hiding his face from the rest of the disintegrating Resistance as much as he can, but he's not, which means he's taken a ship again.

"I wish you'd tell me when you're going," she thinks at him from across the stars.

"I won't be long." He's hiding something from her. The worry gnaws at her again.

There's no name for what she is to him. He's not technically under arrest, although Poe's fingers are itching to clap him into binders for his crimes and knows there would be no point. Rey's neither his jailer nor his keeper. She's taken on the family name of his uncle, but only to rid her mouth and heart of the name of the twice-dead Emperor, which means she's not Ben's family. 'Lover' is too simple and nondescript, and 'friend' not as accurate as she would like. Finn is her best friend. Poe is a good friend even when she's resisting the urge to try out that Force Choke she keeps hearing about. Rose is her friend, and Jessika, and so many more she'd never dreamed of having as friends. Ben's not exactly in that number. Rey doesn't have a specific obligation for him, not that she can put into words, but she knows she doesn't like it when he leaves, just as she knew she couldn't face a galaxy without him at her side. She saved his life twice with her gift, the second time after he'd nearly died bringing her back. No language she speaks encompasses what that makes them to each other, or explains why she worries when he hides his thoughts away behind eyes that have seen the other side.

She feels him returning soon enough, his ship soaring through hyperspace towards her like an arrow unerringly aimed for her and her alone. "When are you going to tell me?" she demands, thoughts taking the place of shouts as she meets him at the landing pad. Out loud she says, "You're not supposed to take ships without requisitioning them."

"I did requisition it. I used your name." The wildness has gone somewhat, muted by whatever he went out there to see. In its place is a tender, teasing amusement.

"I will put you in binders," she threatens, falling into step beside him as they make their way home.

"Promises." He says it in a lower voice, catching her with unexpected heat low in her belly. Everything is so new. They haven't even talked about introducing a recreational set of binders to the mix. The thought now he has her speculative attention.

In his mind he says, "That's something I didn't know about you."

"Me either." As soon as they're aboard, she pulls him into a kiss, and he kisses her back with an easy, heady passion. Their emotions seesaw between each other, leaving Rey unclear what she's feeling and what he's feeling.

One of them is feeling excited about something that isn't the prospect of getting naked. That's coming through with a fierce clarity. "What is it?" she asks, pulling away.

He shrugs off his backpack and digs inside. "I went back to Exegol."

The worries slam into her again. They both died on Exegol, and only sheer stubborn will and a trick in the Force had let them both stumble out of there after. They avoid Exegol.

He hands her a small holocube. Rey examines it, sending out her powers to trace any Dark energy, but there is nothing. This is a piece of technology, not some evil artifact about to steal her soul. She sees the pattern on the side to activate it, and with an encouraging nod from Ben, she does.

A small hologram appears: a human woman and man together, arms wrapped around each other's shoulders, smiling for the recording. She knows their faces, has dreamed about them countless times.

She's barely breathing. "This was on Exegol?"

"I don't think Palpatine kept it for sentimental reasons. But yes."

She stares at her father's face, searching for and failing to find traces of the Emperor's evil. Her mother's face is strong, her chin firm, and her eyes full of happiness at this one moment. She doesn't know when this was taken, if she'd even been born yet. Perhaps her mother had just discovered her pregnancy, and Rey was the hidden tooka in the picture.

"Thank you," she says after a long time.

"I thought you'd like it," he says, and his gaze is on her. "And you do. Good." The old him would have grown haughty and arrogant at doing something thoughtful. The new him is struggling along, not sure what the correct reaction is.

"Just stop running off. Or when you want to go somewhere, tell me first. I'll go with you."

A little of the old Kylo is back, full of suspicion and hurt. "As my keeper?"

Her hand snakes into his and squeezes. She watches the pain ease out of his face, watches the wild energy dissipate into the warmth of her touch. "As someone who loves you."


End file.
